The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-06-26
MYSTERY OF THE PENSION OFFICE.
Three Men Working Thirty Thousand
Yards OF PIastering.

Three Men Working Thirty Thousand
Yards of Mastering.
Washington Special.
When the history Of the Pension Office court
Ia written 1t will begin with the inaugural ball
and reception TO the fret Democratic President
after the war" The building was two years
old, but had reached only the bare walls and
temporary canvas covering on the top. Thou
sands of yards of cotton cloth, hundreds of flags
and carloads Of plants and flowers transformed
the great, bare, hardly begun court into ball
room that was, on the whole, attractive. When
the performance was over, the court
stripped and turned back into the Cavern" and
Is the cavern to this day, though two years
WORK has been put on the buildine-spread
on, so to speak, at the rate of "three plasterers
working on &c. 900 square yards Of plasterinG."
! quote Deputy Commissioner McLean's midest
expression of feeling. Colonel Mclean is not
: profane man, but when he talks about the new
Pension Office building he ia not TO be held TO a
strict account for his adjectives explosives.
GOOD heavens!" he said, as the sound OF ham
mers and trowels picks and shovels. rever6er-
ated through the cavern" in continuous din,
nobody knows what endure. Yes this
cursed noise never let's It's enough to drive
o man mad. IL we happen to live till the Internal
old ark is finished. which is doubtful, some of US
are bound TO be insane. Slow is no name for it.
Why. for weeks they have had three men working
on 10000 square yards of plastering out therei No
business firm would stand anything like it. and
don'tbelieve any other govern ment would either
How long do you suppose we would put up with
such blank nonsense out WestT The Deputy Is
from Indiana ITO begin with, were moved
IN here when there one coat OF plaster on.
and the water dripped from the wet ceilings. 1t
was a tough place for men, and dirty, too. But
IL was worse for women; l wonder that half Of
them are not dead. There have been lime-dust,
racket and dampness enough to kill all of
They have been at il four years. and don't be-
lieve the building is more than half done now"
The prospect 10, then. that 1t Will run through
this administration anyhow"
Eyes. And it will run into the next, too, IL
they don't put more plasterers. / should
think they would try make place for one
more on thirty thousand yards, he replied, with
sarcasm and an adj Elective TO strengthen it.
There seems to be statuary-a lot of heads
mp the top walls of the court Can you tell
whom they representa- l asked, partly for
Information and partly to turn Colonel Nc
Leans thoughts to agreeable and orn amental
feature of the building
'iHeatsi Yes there a few up there-a few
short OK thousand. should say. / doubt IL
anybody in this building knows whom they rep
roof, unless for the swallows that nest in the
inches. usually tell people they repres ent
George Washington and myself. You the
heads high aud so blank little that you
can't see what the faces are like, and they pass
for George Washington without any dispute.
But it's a fair sample OF the building. Now, in
stead OF fooling away time and money over SIX
roof like so many white balls. why couldn't they
20 and finish the of1ices2 don't like to talk
about IL often. 1t strs up. Everything is
covered with dust There isn't clerk here who
isn't known on the street because OF the lime
and other dirt he carries away on his clothes"